Chapter 498

The video opened with Charlotte being dragged into a psychiatric hospital, her wrists clenched tight in the grip of several intimidating doctors. She looked so small, so fragile, lost in the crowd of white coats surrounding her.
Without a hint of gentleness, they snipped away her long hair, the scissors flashing close to her face. When she tried to pull away, someone forced bitter medicine past her lips, insisting she swallow. Charlotte fought back, terrified, but the sedatives soon dulled her senses, and her struggles faded as everything slipped away.
Once she was unconscious, a lawyer who had been hovering nearby wasted no time. He pulled out his phone and dialed. “Jesse, you can relax. Now that she’s in here, nobody will ever believe she’s sane. The mental illness diagnosis is locked in.”
He paused, then added, “Just stick to your story. Say Charlotte tried to seduce you, and when you turned her down, she attacked you with a knife. That way, there’s no way out for her.”
No one would listen to a word from a patient in a mental hospital. That was just the ugly truth.
As soon as the video hit the internet, chaos erupted. People who’d been obsessing over “Charlotte’s dirty secrets” were suddenly confronted with a completely different story. The supposed “culprit” was really the victim. With just these two videos, public opinion did a full one-eighty.
Comments flooded in, outrage growing by the second.
“I can’t believe Jesse would do something so vile to a young girl.”
“My heart is breaking for Lottie. She didn’t deserve any of this.”
“Is her dad actually clueless? Charlotte was obviously the victim, and he just threw
her into a psych ward without even checking the facts?”
“Her stepmom is the sister of the person who set her up. Think about it.”
“I’m so sorry for judging Charlotte before. I take back everything I said.”
“We demand a real investigation. Charlotte deserves justice.”
Meanwhile, at the Carter home, Melissa bolted upright in bed, scrolling through endless waves of comments. Her expression darkened as she read, her brows knitting together.
Where did this video from five years ago even come from? Clearly, someone wanted to clear Charlotte’s name. Melissa hadn’t heard a word about Anthony breaking things off with Charlotte, and instead, she was blindsided by this mess.
All her careful planning was about to go up in smoke. Refusing to accept defeat, she gripped her phone and quickly called her hacker. “Didn’t you say you were the best? Get rid of that video, or at least make itlook, fake Mess with the evidence get the public confused, do something
The main perpetrator had already left the country, so there shouldn’t be any proof left-even with the video.
“Not a problem,” the hacker replied with absolute confidence, fingers flying over the keyboard.
But just a couple minutes later, a warning flashed on his computer: “System Intrusion Detected.”
He froze. Someone was actually hacking into his system. That couldn’t be possible. He’d spent a fortune buying security software from Nine, the legendary hacker, and it was supposed to be untouchable.
Melissa’s voice snapped him out of it. “Why is the video still online? What’s going on?”
“I’m working on it,” he said, but even as he spoke, his computer screen went black. The system crashed, completely dead.
From the first sign of trouble to total shutdown, less than a minute had passed. “Why aren’t you saying anything?” Melissa pressed.
“My system’s down. It’s totally crashed.” He stared at the blank screen, shock written all over his face. It took him a long moment before he could even speak again.
“What?” Melissa could barely process what she was hearing.
“Who is Charlotte, really?” he muttered.
Was it even possible for anyone to get through Nine’s defenses? Melissa had no answer. In her mind, Charlotte was just a pretty face and nothing more. Was Anthony secretly helping her out?
Before Melissa could piece anything
together, a third video exploded across the internet. This one pushed
everything to the breaking point, peeling back the last of the lies and exposing the truth for everyone to
see. sŵnovel
It was a mashup of interviews. Everyone in the video had been part of what really
happened all those years ago.
A psychiatrist appeared on screen,
looking remorseful. “I broke my code
of ethics. For my own selfish
reasons, I gave Charlotte a Take
diagnosis. It did real harm to her life.
Charlotte, I am so sorry.”